DECARBONING

[Fly Rod]

Well, I have read alot of articles on iboats about decarboning outboards!!! Even tho I use carbon guard I have been decarboning my motor with Sea Foam!!! In the past I would only do it once giving it a good soaking etc: and waiting 8-10 hrs. following some directions!!!<br /><br />This week end I decided to decarb and started on Friday 8:00Am and ended doing it today, Monday!!! Friday started out spraying 2 cans into the intakes, followed by removing the plugs and using another can in the six plug holes, sat over nite and blew out the carbon early the next morning!!! after seeing all the black crap on the surface of the water, I decided to do the plug holes once again, used another can in the holes, waited till Sunday morning, kick her over and more black crap came to the surface!!! Well thought it over and decided to do it again, went thru the process all over again and kicked it over again today and there was no black crap on the water surface!!!!<br /><br />So my point is that if you decarb you may want to do it at least a couple of times during the process instead of once!!!!

 

[Bwalker]

Re: DECARBONING

I run a fishing lodge that has many outboards and we put a ton of time on them in a season. I have never seen the need to decarb. I know this because I take comp readinsg and inspect through the pluge hole and exhaust cover for buildup. Using quality oil you will not have much of any.<br />I also tried using Seafoam in the can and couldnt tell it did a dang thing. I also tried deep creep and besides making a mess on the drive way I couldnt tell that it removed anything from the piston dome. I did do a before and after inspection.<br /> I did have luck cleaning up a old Johnson that had been run on 30 wt motor oil with mercury power tune, but I had to use a putty nife to scrape the goo off, mearly running it through the motor didnt do much of anyhting.

 

[imported_Curmudgeon]

Re: DECARBONING

Please, Mr Walker, not another rendition of your scientific driveway projects. Most manufacturers would disagree with your premise, and you need to get past it. Sea Foam is what it is and does what it does whether you see the need for it or not ...

 

[roscoe]

Re: DECARBONING

AGAIN, decarbing is a maintenance procedure, it works, it helps.<br /><br />Not really intended to remove large deposits from the piston dome, intended to prevent it and free up sticking rings.<br /><br />And does a great job of cleaning out the exhaust residue.

 

[DJ]

Re: DECARBONING

We all have to remember that 2-strokes are "tuned" with the exhaust. A clean exhaust gives the best chance of a good running engine.

 

[Pony]

Re: DECARBONING

Ben I thought some time ago you were going to do a Seafoam test and prove to all of us that it doesnt work..............I have yet to see it.<br /><br />It works, whether you want it too or not, it does. I guess all the stories of better idling and compression, etc are just lies.......

 

[Bwalker]

Re: DECARBONING

I got busy and never got around to doing it. I have used the stuff as I outlined above and it didnt do much.<br /> BTW have you ever heard of the placebo effect?<br /> As for the tuned exhaust thing. Outboards to the best of my knowledge do not have a tuned pipe sytem ala a motorcyle.<br /> I have seen the exhuast tract after a powerhead removal from a motor run by anopther camp that used nothing, but Candian tire oil(the cheap stuff) and its was farly clean with no blockage what so ever and minimal buildup. this motor was a ten year old Yammi 70 BTW and had likely seen more use than most on this board put on in a lifetime.

 

[imported_Curmudgeon]

Re: DECARBONING

I only use placebos prescribed by a medical practitioner, not some guy down the row in the waiting room. I also tend to listen to a trained mechanic/manufacturer when it comes to outboard maintenence. I'm just funny that way, I guess ...

 

[Bwalker]

Re: DECARBONING

I agree, I have notheard of a oem saying to dump sea foam in your gas!

 

[diggerdan17]

Re: DECARBONING

your giving canadians a bad name ben....shhhhhhhhhh!

 

[Boilermaker]

Re: DECARBONING

I do believe that ALL the Major outboard Manufacterers make and sell a BRAND NAME DE-CARB product .

 

[Fly Rod]

Re: DECARBONING

WOW!!!! I didn't know that decarbon an engine could be so controversial of a subject!!!<br /><br />Was always told that the newer DFI's built up a lot of carbon!!!! After noticing on the water surface the black marble like globs of carbon, I'm sure the deep creep did some good!!! And I know very little about these motors, I believe preventive maintenance helps!!!!<br /><br />Ben, I can understand a compression test!!! BUT, you must have one heck of an eye to inspect for carbon through a plug hole!!!!

 

[Texasmark]

Re: DECARBONING

Ben,<br /><br />Don't know about other engine designs, but when the OMC loop charged engine came out in '68 it was a 3 cylinder and part of the reason (per their propaganda sheets of the time) was that tuned exhausts were necessary for proper fuel scavaging with the flat topped piston.<br /><br />Seems that 3 cylinders was the optimum number of cylinders to get the power pulses to resonate properly. Merc had them on their Direct Charged engines also, and later on their loopers....when the OMC patent ran out. My Merc Tower had 2ea 3 cylinder tuned exhaust ports. <br /><br />On Sea Foam, I resisted at first and decided to try it on my '02 recently purchased engine. Was not starting as fast as I thought it should and was idling rough (3 cyl). I am a believer in it because it proved to me that it cleans your engine and a clean engine just runs better. Matter of fact, I just bought 2 more pints yesterday.<br /><br />My 2c,<br /><br />Mark

 

[Pony]

Re: DECARBONING

Fly Rod claimed<br /> After noticing on the water surface the black marble like globs of carbon, I'm sure the deep creep did some good!!!

That was a placebo effect..........

 

[dajohnson53]

Re: DECARBONING

Originally posted by P.O.N.Y.:<br />

Fly Rod claimed<br /> After noticing on the water surface the black marble like globs of carbon, I'm sure the deep creep did some good!!!

That was a placebo effect..........

Well, I'm not saying de-carbing works or doesn't work, but certainly black crap on the water or ground in no way proves that it's cleaning anything in a meaningful way. Again, I'm not saying whether it does any good or not. I happen to think it does, but that most motors run with decent oil don't need it. But just because it spits out some black crap and smokes a lot does nothing to prove the point. The black waste product could indeed exist, but be meaningless in the overall cleanliness of the engine. I can get a hell of a lot of dirt off my garage floor, without making it significantly cleaner.

 

[Fly Rod]

Re: DECARBONING

I use the most highly recomended evinrude brand of lubrication, also use their carbon guard !!!!<br /><br />One thing that is certain, where there is spark, combustion, there is carbon!!!!!

 

[Pony]

Re: DECARBONING

D.<br /><br />I agree with you completely...BUT....it just seems ridiculous to me to say it does nothing at all, when so many (myself included) have had success with it.

 

[imported_Curmudgeon]

Re: DECARBONING

I agree, I have notheard of a oem saying to dump sea foam in your gas!<br /><br />Of course not, they all recommend their own brand! If you'd get around a little, you'd see several brands on dealer's shelves, including SeaFoam.

 

[cobra 3.0]

Re: DECARBONING

I suppose the only significant way of noticing if a decarb product has worked is if you had a problem idling your engine in the first place without it conking out here and there. Fisherman that can troll for hours on end, and can certainly tell if such products work.<br /><br />I just did a decarb over the weekend with some "OMC engine tune" product. I didn't wait hours on end for it to work, just 15 minutes as it says on the can so it probably would have gotten rid of more crap if I would've waited overnite...any how...<br /><br />The 15 hp 1974 Evinrude did run smoother with less stuttering and stopping at trolling speeds. I will give the next cleaning an overnite wait and see if it helps some more.

 

[Dave Abrahamson]

Re: DECARBONING

I don't have that hesitation in my F-150 that I had before the Deep Creep treatment.